Tuesday, March 10, 2009

China and Tibet: No middle way for China

After 50 years in exile, the Dalai Lama seems close to despair

MARCH is the cruellest month in Tibet, breeding protests on the roof of the world, each of which in turn creates an anniversary to remember and mourn. As the Dalai Lama, Tibetans’ spiritual leader, put it in a speech on Tuesday March 10th in Dharamsala, his seat in exile in northern India, it is a time “to pay tribute and offer our prayers for all those who died, were tortured and suffered tremendous hardships…for the cause of Tibet”.

His speech included the offers of friendship and conciliation to China with which he usually tempers criticism of its rule. But much of it was angry and pessimistic in tone. It reads like the exasperated outpouring of a man despairing of the compromise he himself continues to promote. The Dalai Lama also reiterated the claim for an autonomous Tibetan homeland that extends beyond what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region, into other parts of China. ...